


The Silence of the Chat

by Violetgalval



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Chloe being called out on her shit, Exhaustion, F/M, OC Akuma - Freeform, Reveal, group project gone wrong, medical attention needed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-08 20:44:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8860369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Violetgalval/pseuds/Violetgalval
Summary: Secret Santa gift for Parapluie!~~ So I tried to pull some of the themes you requested, this is what I ended up with. I hope you like it!!!Marinette has been working herself to the brink of exhaustion. A catalyst in the form of a group project brings forth more than just the rest she so desperately needs.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fengbi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fengbi/gifts).



Marinette could not remember the last time she slept. Between Hawk Moth attacking Paris and finishing a sewing project for the latest Gabriel Agreste contest, which in itself doubled as a gift to Adrien for Christmas, she had been pulling all-nighters for almost two weeks now. What didn’t help was when she made a major mistake with the jacket and had to start over. She had accidentally added yellow to her dye mixture and while it had become a glorious green fit for Chat Noir, she wanted it to be a vibrant blue. Because she knew that was his favorite color. She had complained to Alya about it, but received no sympathy. Her best friend simply told her to make it Chat Noir themed instead and call it good. Since she couldn’t come out and say she had decided to gift it to the cat themed hero as she just so happened to be really close to him, she simply grumbled and started over. 

That was why, on this glorious Wednesday morning, Marinette was just arriving in the class room as Madam Bustier was starting roll call. That was why Marinette was only barely awake as she went over their group assignment. That was also, most importantly, why Marinette didn’t spazz at being put in a group with Adrien, Chloe, and Max. The four convened in the library and Chloe immediately started dictating what everyone was going to do, aka, what Max and Marinette were going to do so she could hang off Adrien. Marinette simply didn’t care as she opened the book and tried to focus enough to understand what it was trying to convey. Max, on the other hand, was furious. Adrien was doing his best to convince Chloe that all four of them needed to do equal amounts of the work while also trying to placate Max, assuring him that he only needed to do one quarter of the project.

In the back of her mind, Marinette knew she should be trying to prevent an Akuma. Tikki was probably fretting away in her purse. It wasn’t until Max slammed a book down on the table though that Marinette realized things were getting critical.

“I’m so tired of you Chloe! Just do something! This is your grade too! You do realize that none of us are Sabrina, right? We aren’t going to carry you!” Max practically screamed out.

“QUIET!” the librarian hissed storming over to their table. “This is a library, a workplace, a silent sanctuary! No yelling!” Marinette wasn't sure how someone could be so intimidating and angry, yet keep their voice to just below talking levels, but the librarian pulled it off well.

“Sorry…” Max mumbled, sheepishly looking down at the floor until she left. Then he rounded on Chloe, anger bursting forth again. “If we fail because of you, even your dad won't be able to save you!" He then turned and stalked away.

Before Marinette could remind her legs how walking worked, to go comfort her classmate, Adrien was tearing off after the bespectacled boy. She sighed and settled back to read the text. Maybe she'd be able to comprehend enough information to make an outline and appease Max. Chloe sat back with a scoff and started to buff her nails. Not even a minute had passed when she started whining. "What is taking my Adrinkins so long? How am I supposed to be spending quality time with him if he isn't even here?"

Marinette gaped at her. Anger simmered under her skin, but she didn't have enough energy to release it. "Maybe time would pass faster if you helped me make an outline for our project, Chloe."

"God, like I'm going to help you with anything. Like I told Max, I'll do the presentation with Adrien and you two can do everything else. It's a completely fair trade. It's how Sabrina and I split up work all the time."

Gripping the book tighter, Marinette tried once more time to reason with her. "Maybe we should all do all parts of the project. You know, broaden your horizons, become a better person, all that jazz."

"Tch, not gonna happen. I'm on this planet to be a queen. Unlike you, who's here to work. So stop trying to lump me in with you," she sniffed and pulled her phone out.

The anger finally boiled it's way through Marinette's exhausted stupor. She slammed her hands down on the table as she stood up to yell at the blonde for being so oblivious and rude. However, the roaring in her ears wasn't her voice but her blood. Chloe's shocked face triplicated before everything started spinning around. Marinette wasn't sure if she was falling up or down. Before she could decide, everything went dark and she could no longer feel anything.

~

Adrien finally convinced Max that he would make Chloe work, or make sure that Madam Bustier graded them on their effort at least instead of hers, and was leading him back to their work table when they heard Marinette call out. "You are not! Bet- tt-.... er...." They rounded the corner as she fainted, cracking her head against the table before slumping to the floor. Adrien was at her side in a flash, feeling her head for a bump. He shot lasers at Chloe when he turned his attention to her.

"What is wrong with you Chloe?!? We are supposed to be working as a group. What did you even do to her!?"

"WHAT?!! I did NOTHING! I was just--" Chloe shrieked before being cut off by a boom and the entire room shaking.

"QUIET!!!! I am Silenciá and you will not make another sound!" The three turned to find the librarian with the familiar purple butterfly hovering over where her eyes should be. Her Akuma form was rather simplistic; she was shrouded in a black cloak with the hood up hiding her face. She pulled an 'x' shaped stamp out of her sleeve and stamped the air towards Chloe. A black 'x' came flying, landing right on Chloe's lips and rendering her speechless. She pawed at her mouth, but she couldn't even mumble or groan out a noise. When she slammed a hand down on the table, though it shook, that made no noise either. Adrien scooped Marinette up and bolted behind a bookcase. If he wanted to transform, he needed to make sure he didn't get hit. He glanced back to see Max struggling with his own mouth, a look of desperation in his eyes as he fell to his needs to beg for forgiveness. "Now, you will, Get. Back. To. Work!" Silenciá hissed out. She turned and swung her arms. As her back was now to Adrien, he couldn't see what actually happened, but when she drifted away, Chloe and Max were both furiously taking notes.

"Where did you other troublemakers go..." Silenciá whispered as she started moving throughout the library. Adrien adjusted his hold on Marinette and made a break for it. He was afraid that if he transformed in the library, Silenciá would hear him and stamp an 'x' over his mouth before he could activate Cataclysm to destroy the stamper. Marinette's safety was also peak in his thoughts. After all this was over, he'd have to figure out what exactly Chloe did to her so he could make amends.

Before he got back to their classroom, Plagg called out for his attention. "Psst, hey Adrien! Shouldn't you transform before you ditch the girl? If you pass her off as Chat Noir, no one will try to stop you from taking care of the Akuma."

"Oh... wow, thanks, that's, a really good idea, Plagg. Transform me!" The magic flowed out and he rolled his shoulders, reveling in how light Marinette felt with it enhancing his strength. He paused just a moment, staring down at her. She hadn't shifted at all. Just what did Chloe do? Was she carrying tranquilizer darts or something? He supposed it was good that she hadn't woken up since that would reveal something he really didn't want her to know.

Chat Noir made short work of finding Alya. "Hey, found her unconscious, gotta deal with the baddie, see ya!"

"Woah! What did the Akuma do to her? What are their powers? Do we need to worry about it spreading?" Alya, ever the journalist, questioned even as she sagged under the weight of her friend.

 _You really need to work out Alya, Marinette obviously doesn't take advantage of living over a bakery._ He shook his head, bouncing back and forth on his feet as he replied, "Librarian with silencing and, uh, work ethic powers? To be honest, I'm not sure what happened to her. Ladybug isn't on the scene yet, so I really need to book it!" He grinned at his own pun and leapt away.

~

Marinette gasped as water splashed across her face. She frantically looked around and found Tikki floating near the running water of a bathroom sink. "What--?"

"No time! Chat Noir needs Ladybug!" Tikki cried out, floating over to her chosen. Marinette gulped but nodded, calling out the phase and letting the magic wash over her. Though she was still exhausted, the magic washed that into the back of her mind so she could focus. She went running out trying to listen for a fight going on. The entire school was silent. Frowning she stalked the halls trying to figure out where everyone was. She might just have to de-transform and get some details from Tikki.

Before she could fully commit to that idea, Chat Noir went flying past a doorway. She ran up, crouching on the other side to see where the Akuma was. A black, robed figure was slowly making it's way towards Chat Noir. Glancing towards him, she saw him dusting himself off and glaring daggers at the Akuma. However, there were no puns. Taking a closer look at him, she saw a black 'x' covering his mouth. He leapt out of the way of whatever attack the Akuma sent at him and their chase continued.

 _If Chat Noir can't talk, then he must not be able to use his Cataclysm..._ Ladybug thought to herself. She belatedly wondered if this was the result of her not controlling the situation better back in the library. The librarian was pretty upset at all the yelling. _God, I should have realized this. I should be paying better attention. I have GOT to sleep tonight. I can't keep making such mistakes._

With that, she turned her attention back to the Akuma. Everything seemed to happen from her stamper. She pushed it into her sleeve and when she pulled it out, it was shaped differently. She swung her arm towards Chat Noir and whatever spell it was went flying. Lucky for him, his baton didn't need verbal commands to extend and he was able to get safely away. She just needed to come up with a way to separate the object from the Akuma.

Without thinking too much about it, Ladybug called out for her Lucky Charm to activate. As she turned around with the super-soaker in hand, she saw that both Chat Noir and the Akuma were looking right at her. Chat Noir looked panicked and like he was trying to distract the Akuma. However, she ignored him completely, targeting in on Ladybug. Frantic, Ladybug surveyed the area. Spots appeared on Chat Noir and the Akuma. Realizing that she was too tired for this, she rubbed her eyes. All she could think of doing was soak the Akuma with the gun and hoping that distracted her enough for Chat Noir to approach and grab the stamper.

She tucked and rolled, getting out of the doorway and into the middle of the entrance hall space. The Akuma was frantically throwing spells from her stamper. Jumping again, Ladybug fired over her shoulder. However, she stumbled her landing and missed, hitting Chat Noir square in the face instead. He sputtered and gasped. The Akuma whirled on him, frantically trying to stamp him again. Ladybug fired the super-soaker at the Akuma. The black of her robe started pooling down on the floor and they both realized that it had been made of ink this whole time. Chat Noir to activate Cataclysm. He destroyed the stamp right as Ladybug ran out of the magical water. The librarian fell to her knees as Hawkmoth's power melted away from her. After a quick purify and cure, Ladybug went over to help the woman to her feet. She wavered though, and Chat Noir had to catch her. She gave him a weak smile and decided to bolt before she fainted again. Chat Noir tried to call after her, but she ignored him. Making her way back to the bathroom she woke up in.

~

Chat Noir sighed as he watched his lady run from him. She was acting really strange. Although also strangely familiar. The beeping from his ring reminded him that he didn't actually have time to just stand around. He found a quite spot to de-transform and made his way back to the classroom. He could hear Alya recounting the story already.

"-So after I left you in the bathroom for safe keeping, I pulled Nino with me to go find out what was going on. It was really hard though, because we couldn't hear anything! We found Chat Noir battling Silenciá in the library. No Ladybug, but I got some awesome shots still. However, we got hit with her "work" stamp and ended up working away next to Max and Chloe." She said Chloe's name with disdain as she glanced over at the girl. Chloe was sitting in her usual seat next to Sabrina and had a pissed off look on her face.

She glanced up now and was completely sidetracked by seeing Adrien in the doorway. "Adrikins! Oh I was so scared! How could you leave me behind? And why did you protect her?" she asked, jerking her thumb towards Marinette. Adrien turned his attention to her to find her drifting off at the desk. He frowned and ignoring Chloe, went over to her.

"Marinette? Are you ok?"

"Wha--? I-I'm fi-ine!" she stammered, pushing her self away from her desk and practically falling to the floor. Adrien reached out, catching her and righting her. She let out a high pitched giggle before finally calming down.

"Adrien!" Chloe screamed out. "Why aren't you ever as concerned about me as you are of Marinette!"

"Chloe!" Adrien cried out. He didn't seem to notice, but the entire room stilled. "You have been causing a mess of trouble today! First you were obstinate about the project, you caused yet another Akuma, I don't even know what you did to Marinette! Why are you like this? Why are you always so mean?

"I did NOTHING to Marinette! She was yelling at me when she just fell over. And Max was the one who caused the Akuma with all his yelling! I am the nicest person there is, you are just seeing the wrong side of things!"

"I was there, Chloe! I was there the entire time! You need to stop acting like you are better than all of us! If you had just agreed to do your fair share of the work we'd probably be done with the project now instead of trying to recover after yet another Akuma attack!"

"But, but Adrien..."Chloe whimpered. She cowered in on herself. Alya had her phone out recording this with a look of glee on her face. The rest of the class room was just waiting to see what happened.

"Chloe, I really think you--" Adrien was cut off as Marinette stood up. She looked like she was about to be sick. Opening her mouth to say something, Marinette swayed. Adrien frowned, about to ask if she was ok when her eyes rolled back and she crumbled into him. Adrien caught her easily but was still flabbergasted, glancing up at his classmates.

"Oh, Marinette! I know she's exhausted from staying up all night trying to finish her sewing project for your dad's contest, but she's never passed out during the day before" Alya said, worry marring all of her features.

"See! I told you it wasn't my fault!" Chloe exclaimed as Sabrina nodded furiously behind her.

"Be that as it may, we still wouldn't have had an Akuma today if it weren't for you!" Adrien snapped. Chloe cowered back and he dismissed her from his thoughts. "Alya, will you take care of Marinette's stuff? I'm going to take her to the nurse."

Alya gave out a confirmation and Adrien scooped Marinette up again and strode away.

~

Marinette came to, murmur of voices in the background. There was a loud beeping closer by and Marinette frowned trying to figure out where she was. She shifted and found that something was in her hand. Looking down, she saw a needle. Her gaze followed the tubing up to an IV drip. Behind that was the beeping machine. The rhythm had changed and shortly a nurse and her parents came rushing in.

She found out that she was malnourished from skipping meals and sleep in her efforts to do everything she's been trying to do. She was scolded very harshly and put on a ban from doing anything after lights out. When she got home, her friends were there, worried about her. Alya had her things (and Tikki not that anyone knew that but Marinette), and told her again she should have just stuck with making the green one after she miss-dyed the fabric. Nino was going on about how she should have told them, he would have totally given her his homework to copy. Adrien was just sternly looking at her, disapproval emanating from his very being. She took their scolding in stride and after everyone left, she made her way to her room. She had eaten a hearty super and every ten minutes her mom came up to make sure she was doing her homework and not starting on a new sewing project. After lights out, when even her phone was taken away so she couldn't use it, she finally had a chance to talk to Tikki.

"It might get me in more trouble, but do you think I should go find Chat and explain why I can't patrol for a while?" Marinette whispered.

"I don't think that will be necessary," the kwami answered as she peered towards the balcony.

Sure enough, Marinette could hear movement. She carefully opened the hatch to find Chat Noir making camp. He jumped when he heard her come up, but immediately put on a stern face and pointed a finger at her. "You need to be in bed."

"Well, yeah, but, why would you know that, Chat?" she whispered as she hesitantly came out.

"Well, uh... That's not important! I just came to make sure you don't try to stay up tonight," he replied, indignant.

"You're the only reason I'm not asleep yet... Though I'm not sure I'll be able to now when I'm unsure why a super hero cares so much about my well-being." She cautiously walked closer to him, until they were side by side and she could look out at the city lights next to him.

He stammered, like he hadn't thought this through very well and sighed, palming his face as he turned toward the city and leaned on the railing. "Look, I took your collapsed form to your best friend earlier today. I was just, worried still that something was wrong. Since, you know, the Akuma's powers couldn't have possibly caused it. So obviously something else was going on..."

"Riiiiiiiiiight," she drawled, small smile forming as she tucked some hair behind her ear so she could glance sidelong at him. She took note of the blush forming on his cheeks.

He started mumbling to himself, trying to come up with a totally legit reason for him knowing she needed sleep with out outing himself as one of her three close friends. Ok, let's be honest here, Alya could never be Chat Noir, that girl is too involved in the super heroes' lives in order to be the black cat.

"Hey, uh... Just a second." She picked herself up and went down into her room. She grabbed a box and came back up. "I was going to wrap this, but I wasn't sure the best way to get it to you. Especially after Alya saw it..." She muttered and held it out to him.

Confused, he carefully opened the box and pulled out the magnificent black and green jacket. She could see the stars in his eyes as he admired the piece. He gleefully put it on, noting the perfect fit. "How did you get it to fit so well?"

"It was my original piece for the Gabriel Fashion Contest. You seem to be the same size as the contest measurements. I meant for the accents to be blue but I dyed them wrong, so I started over and decided I wanted you to have this one."

"What? But, why didn't you just submit this piece?"

"Well... I mean, I suppose I could have... I just... I wanted to make the blue one for, uh, this boy in my class," she whispered, twisting her fingers together as she swiveled back and forth.

"If your design wins, doesn't Gabriel Agreste get to keep it though for his show?" Chat Noir asked, he had stilled, but Marinette took no notice.

"Well that doesn't matter because Adrien would end up with it either way..." Marinette murmured.

"What?!"

"Uh well, you see... Please don't tell anyone but uh, I kinda, really like him? And the contest was the perfect way to give him something really super nice without it being weird. Like, darn, I didn't win the contest, here Adrien, please take it since it fits you anyway and then I don't have to be reminded of my failure/ figure out what to do with this jacket. Or yay, I won the contest! Please keep the jacket after the show, Adrien. It looks so nice on you and yeah.... And besides, I knew I could just give this one to you and you'd really love it so it was like, win-win, you know?" Marinette rambled, never making eye contact. Her gaze shifted all over the place, from the jacket to the ground to the city to the sky. Her cheeks had darkened considerable as well.

"Why would you want to give me something so nice?" he asked, clinging to the jacket because no way was he giving it back at this point.

Her eyes widened and all the color drained out of her face as she tried to back pedal her way out of this. "I mean, you're a super hero of Paris, right? You should totally be getting gifts from the citizens of Paris. That's not weird? Besides! You've save my life! I owe you! And you know--"

"Is it because you're Ladybug," he blurted.

Marinette stilled. Internally she was screaming, she had to think of a way out of this. She gave a shaky laugh and, without making eye contact, she asked, "What makes you, uh, think a crazy thing like that? I mean, me? Ladybug? HAHA! I'm like, the least qualified person to save Paris. Totally cr-"

"That doesn't help your case at all," he interupted. "What with Ladybug confiding in me when we started that she didn't think she was the best for this job..."

"Uh... I've helped you on a mission before!" she tried, grasping at straws.

"That Ladybug wasn't around for," he responded, turning to her and leaning on a hand.

Defeated, Marinette slumped and nodded. "Um look Chaton, this isn't how I wanted to do this. Like, I kept thinking about how after we defeated Hawk Moth, we would have some kind of celebration and I'd tell you there. Just, don't let this change our friendship, ok? Like, I know you've been-" she started to stammer, however Chat Noir chose that moment to de-transform. Marinette squeaked and covered her eyes. She tried to tell him to re-transform, but all she could do is squeak.

Chat Noir's kwami started laughing. "I can't believe that we are still doing this," he wheezed.

"Plagg!" Tikki cried out, choosing now to come out of Marinette's hair. "I blame this on you! You gave everything away didn't you!"

"Oh my god, Tikki, you have no idea how horrible it was living with him! Ladybug this and Ladybug that. Oh who could she possibly be? I know I'd recognize her if I met her out of the mask, but how do I find her? Oh Plagg, I'm so in love, what should I do?!? IT WAS DRIVING ME CRAZY! I couldn't stand it. And subtlety, no effect. No effect! All of it went right over his head. So yes, I forcibly nudged him to figuring it out."

"Plagg, you broke the rules! It was when he ran out of the library with wasn't it? What exactly did you do?"

Plagg whimpered under Tikki's furry. "I, uh, just told him to transform. While he happened to be holding her. It was going to be easier-"

"That breaks the glamour spell! Completely cheating! Get over here!" Per the sounds, Tikki was painfully dragging Plagg away. Marinette couldn't be sure as she still hadn't opened her eyes. Chat Noir's civillian form sighed, and he reached out to place his hand on her shoulder.

"My Lady, I'm sorry that this was thrust upon you. I just didn't feel right, not telling after I figured it out. And I'd like if you'd know who I am too."

Marinette shook her head. "I-I should really get to bed before someone checks on me," she whispered.

He sighed, and took a step closer to her. "Ok, I'll give you space. But you should know, I really like the jacket. I don't really need two though. The only reason I'd like the blue better is because then it'd match your eyes."

"What?!" Marinette cried out, uncovering her eyes to stare straight into Adrien's. His grin belonged on a different face though. "I-I-I, but... OH MY GOD!!! I TOLD YOU THAT I LIKE YOU!!!" Marinette cried out. She wavered in place, not really sure where to go to hide.

Adrien grabbed her and steadied her. He smiled, letting his hand drift up to her chin, gently grazing her jawline back until he was cupping her face. "I can't believe this whole time, the reason my Lady wasn't interested in me is because she liked me." Her mouth fell open, and after giving her a second for it to sink in, he leaned down. Marinette blinked then slowly closed her eyes, bringing her hands up to rest on his chest. Their lips touched.

Marinette's day truly turned out to be a glorious one indeed.


End file.
